When the Group 5 regulations were drastically changed ahead of the 1972 season, effectively banning the existing big banger sports racers, the Group 6 class became even more important. This prompted the development a brand new car from the ground up that could be used as two-litre (T290) but also in three-litre (T280) form. In charge of the design was Bob Marston, assisted by Patrick Head and John Barnard, who would both go on to become leading racing car designers in their own right.

Like the T210, the second generation Group 6 was built around an
aluminium monocoque chassis with independent suspension and outboard disc
brakes on all four corners. The front suspension was by double wishbones while
the rear used a reversed lower wishbones, top links and twin trailing arms. The
car was clothed in a straightforward fibreglass body, which compared to rivals
Chevron and Abarth was relatively curvaceous. Downforce was provided at the
rear by a small wing that was mounted at the trailing edge and almost flush
with the engine cover.

The T290 was offered without an engine,
leaving customers to pick their power-plant of choice. Cosworth was the
preferred engine supplier and for the 1972 they offered two options; the venerable
FVC or the newly developed Chevrolet Vega based 'four'. The former was
tried and tested but displaced only 1,790 cc while the latter was not quite as
reliable. Some teams did develop larger versions of the FVC while Cosworth
themselves were hard at work to create the two-litre BDG. Regardless of the
engine choice, a Hewland five-speed gearbox was used.
The successes of the T212 during the 1971 season had certainly increased the
demand for these cars and no fewer than 34 T290s were built in 1972.

Many were
sold through European representative Jo Bonnier, who also fielded some of them with
works support. The Vega engined cars were quick straight out of the box but the
engine's poor reliability proved a real handicap. As a result, the
Abarth-Osella team and driver Arturo Merzario won the European Championship.
The T290s were nevertheless very successful, winning races and championships
all around the world.
For 1973, the car evolved in the T292, which had a more substantial rear wing
and inboard mounted rear brakes. Taking advantage of the BDG engine, it did
manage to clinch the Championship again. T290-based machines were built until
the end of the decade and eventually around 100 examples were built of the
various evolutions. Many of the T290s were raced for many seasons, often using
updated bodies. As a result a T290 in its original guise is today a rare sight.